Acciari scores twice, Panthers handle Canucks

SUNRISE, Fla. --Noel Acciari scored twice when the Florida Panthers defeated the Vancouver Canucks 5-2 at BB&T Center on Thursday.

Acciari, who entered the season with 18 goals in 180 NHL games, has 17 this season, including 12 in the past 12 games.
"It's a good streak going right now, but you don't want to think about it too much and just kind of keep playing the game and just getting in the right areas," Acciari said. "Again, I've got to give a lot of credit to my linemates. They've been awesome through this whole thing and making it a lot easier for me."
WATCH: [All Canucks vs. Panthers highlights]
Sergei Bobrovsky made 30 saves for Florida (23-16-5), which has alternated wins and losses in its past seven games. Jonathan Huberdeau had two assists to move within one point of Olli Jokinen for the most in Panthers history (419) .
Brock Boeser scored, and Thatcher Demko made 44 saves for Vancouver (23-17-4), which has allowed 14 goals in consecutive losses following a seven-game winning streak.

"It's just a matter of dialing in our little details," Demko said. "Our team can play a winning style. We have that (mentality) in our dressing room and we just have to get back to it."
Acciari gave Florida a 1-0 lead at 1:00 of the first period after Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes' clearing attempt hit off the skate of Vincent Trocheck.
Mark Pysyk made it 2-0 at 3:01 when he redirected Colton Sceviour's pass five-hole on the rush, but Boeser cut it to 2-1 at 6:51 on a redirection of Tyler Myers' point shot.

Evgenii Dadonov scored at 18:53 on a 2-on-1 to make it 3-1.
Mike Hoffman extended the lead to 4-1 at 3:40 of the second period with a one-timer on the power play after Huberdeau's toe-drag caused Canucks defenseman Chris Tanev to fall down.

Huberdeau has 22 points (six goals, 16 assists) in the past 12 games.
"It goes pretty fast, I don't know," Huberdeau said of his move. "I guess it's working right now. I kind of tried to make a move and passed it to [Hoffman] and obviously a great shot by him. I'm just trying to play well and play good offensively."
Said Panthers coach Joel Quenneville, "We talk about the wow factor, that was a wow wow. Pretty amazing patience and play recognition. Obviously, [Hoffman has] to hit the perfect shot. He did. It was more than a perfect pass."
Acciari pushed the lead to 5-1 at 6:55 of the third period when he tipped Aaron Ekblad's shot from the point.

"I don't have a good explanation (for his hot streak) except he's got the amazing factor," Quenneville said about Acciari. "Hot as can be with his stick tipping and got a fortunate bounce right off the start. He almost had another one of those hat tricks (Acciari has two this season). Pretty amazing what he's achieved already. Forget about his production, he does all the things you want as a player, very efficient."
Tyler Motte cut it to 5-2 at 12:14 on a give-and-go with Jay Beagle.
"Obviously, we wanted to bounce back (from the 9-2 loss against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday), but our start didn't necessarily represent that," Motte said. "I don't think we were bad in all areas, but coming off a loss like we had in Tampa, we needed a better all-around effort tonight."

They said it

"That's definitely not good enough. If we're going to be successful and win games, we can't be doing that stuff and giving up odd-man rushes. It's all about decision-making with the puck and making the right play and the right pass." -- Canucks captain Bo Horvat
"We've got to have fun like we did tonight. Obviously, when you're up 4-1, you can laugh a little bit more. But we were having fun and still playing well. You can have some laughs, but you have to play well, play hard. That's what we did." -- Panthers forward Jonathan Huberdeau

Need to know

Vancouver went 0-for-3 on the power play and is 0-for-10 in its past three games. … Boeser and Elias Pettersson each played one shift in the final 8:15. … Aleksander Barkov had an assist on Dadonov's goal, his first point in six games. … Florida's 49 shots were one shy of its season high set against the Carolina Hurricanes on Oct. 8.

What's next

Canucks:At the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday (1 p.m. ET; SN, MSG-B, NHL.TV)
Panthers: Host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, SN, TVAS, FS-F, NHL.TV)